9. Babyshambles, ‘Down In Albion’. NME said: “A record seemingly designed to split fans and critics down the middle – and in doing so it opened up the first true music generation gap since acid house.”

4. Antony And The Johnsons, ‘I Am A Bird Now’. NME said: “One of the oddest – and therefore most welcome – success stories of 2005.”

48/50

3. Franz Ferdinand, ‘You Could Have It So Much Better’. NME said: “An album that encompasses epic balladry… Cheshire-grinning psychedelia… and the best song you’ve ever written (‘The Fallen’).”

49/50

2. Arcade Fire, ‘Funeral’. NME said: “An album comprised only of highlights, ‘Funeral’’s pulsating freakouts, dreamlike waltzes and yearning melodies had a cumulative power that simply blew everyone else out of the water.”

50/50

1. Bloc Party, ‘Silent Alarm’. NME said: “The album was all those things British guitar bands’ debut albums usually forget to be: confident in stance, wide in range, global in outlook and brimming with ambition and ideas.”